Sun, 12 Jun 2016 14:56:19 -0700WeeblyMon, 09 Feb 2015 18:28:55 GMThttp://www.froyoyo.com/blog/chocolate-tastingsWe are so pleased and excited to be able to share our passion for artisan chocolate. Plus, what is more fun than good chocolate tasting?

In-Store Tasting Classes: By popular demand, we are announcing dedicated chocolate classes at Froyoyo. Come spend an hour learning about the artisan chocolate-making process, from bean all the way to bar, and taste 6 of the world's best chocolate bars along the way.

Each class will be limited to 6 participants, at least initially. $25 / personOur first class will be Tuesday, Feb 10th from 7 - 8pm. Reply to this email to reserve a spot!

At-Home Tasting Classes: Dave is also now available for in-home tastings. Invite some friends, have some of the world's finest chocolate, and pop open a bottle or few of wine. $25 / person, 6 person minimum.

]]>Tue, 20 May 2014 20:56:34 GMThttp://www.froyoyo.com/blog/waxy-chocolate-check-for-the-missing-cacao-butterCacao butter has the amazing quality of melting at body temperature. In chocolate, this creates that divine mouth-feel. The killer melt-in-your-mouth sensation that brings in waves of flavor. In practice, however, we rarely get chocolate that good because the cacao butter is often partially removed during the chocolate-making process. Why? Because it is worth good money to the cosmetics industry.

But then you may well ask: "What replaces that cacao butter?" Glad you asked: yucky fats. Cheap fats that do not have nearly the same qualities as cacao butter. Fats that make the chocolate feel waxy in comparison, like it is coating your tongue and you need to have a drink afterward.

Artisan chocolate is different from industrial chocolate in so many ways, all along the chain, and this is but one of them. There are legitimate reasons it costs more, too, and substituting cheap fats is a biggie. The big chocolate makers think we won't know what's missing. Well, we do, and we can surely taste the difference. Come by the store for some *real* chocolate. Some chocolate made with only real cacao butter. Some chocolate that will melt in your mouth like no other!]]>Wed, 07 May 2014 17:32:37 GMThttp://www.froyoyo.com/blog/calling-all-milk-chocolate-loversI have customers come in all the time and tell me, slightly downcast, that they only like milk chocolate. They think that for some reason this disqualifies them from being a chocolate aficionado. Not so! It is true that when folks learn more about chocolate they tend to start liking the darker stuff better. But not all the time, and there is certainly some amazing chocolate out there made just for you milk chocolate fans.

I take my hard cases and sample something like the Videri Dark Milk -- or the Fruition Dark Milk Chocolate with Fleur de Sel -- and no one has ever said it was too dark. Usually, minds are blown. I explain that regular milk chocolate has so little real chocolate in it -- often just 11% -- that the flavor comes from crap additives and not from the real cacao. The Videri is 50% cacao, many times the standard for milk chocolate, and yet milk chocolate lovers find it a revelation. Not too dark, not at all bitter, and definitely one of the best uses of cacao beans ever.]]>Thu, 01 May 2014 18:28:38 GMThttp://www.froyoyo.com/blog/the-chocolate-beans-themselvesIn the past year I have learned a ton about the art and science of chocolate making, and the more I learn the more I am overwhelmed by the complexity. There are whole worlds to know just about the cacao plant: different types of trees, both hybrid and heirloom; pruning methods, soils and terroir, harvesting -- even a DNA project. And then the beans must be properly fermented by the farmer, a process that takes days.

Much of the world's commodity chocolate comes from an inferior bean -- that itself comes from a very productive and cost-effective plant -- that is dried and fermented by the side of the road where gas fumes taint the chocolate. No wonder Hershey's milk chocolate is only 10% cacao -- who would want more of that stuff! You can buy a ton of cacao beans on the world market by just picking up the phone, but I wouldn't want to eat any of the chocolate you make from it.

So, are we up to the shipping yet? Because, yes, the special beans used to make craft chocolate even need to be packed and shipped a certain way. Don't get me started!]]>Mon, 21 Apr 2014 17:44:05 GMThttp://www.froyoyo.com/blog/learning-to-love-artisan-chocolateIt was so much fun to have Laura Atlas of Kiskadee chocolate in the house yesterday! We tasted a ton of chocolate and good fun was had by all. We expected to have a certain number of artisan chocolate lovers come to the event, but the unexpected delight was how many of our regular customers enjoyed the event as they just happened upon it.

This confirms my theory that nearly everyone would be an artisan chocolate convert if they knew it existed. Once you have tasted real chocolate -- complex, haunted by lovely flavor notes, non-bitter, with the mouth-feel of real cocao butter -- it is hard to ever again muster much enthusiasm for the crappy stuff.]]>Tue, 25 Mar 2014 17:10:27 GMThttp://www.froyoyo.com/blog/chocolate-surpriseOur regular customers have certainly noticed a change in the store recently. A couple of weeks ago we put up a whole wall of chocolate. You heard me: Wall. Of. Chocolate. In fact, we here at Froyoyo are proud to say we now carry the largest selection bean-to-bar American craft chocolates in Texas!

Chocolate has a back story! Knowing about the maker and what they are trying to accomplish with their cacao makes for a richer chocolate experience. So I wrote a little something about each chocolate maker and framed it alongside that person's bars. Peruse the offerings, taste a little something something, and fall in love with real chocolate.

If you are interested in chocolate not as a candy, but as a nuanced and pleasurable food -- indeed if inside you take pride in the term Foodie -- then you owe it to yourself to come to Froyoyo and find out where that chocolate is that you have been missing your whole life.